Counter
by RedhathackerSin
Summary: Willow was tired of being scared. She was scared for her friends, she was scared for her life, and Giles was trying to make her scared of magic. However, she finally has the spell to allow her to help, something to counter the forces of darkness. With that spell she will summon a hero...
1. Prologue

Willow Rosenberg was tired of being scared. She had been scared for the better part of two years now, ever since her newest friend, Buffy Summers, moved to Sunnydale and had begun her crusade against all the things that go bump in the night. Originally she had just been scared because she was just a normal girl and the utter _hopelessness_ of her position with the forces of darkness did nothing to reprieve her of that fear.

However, she was different now. She didn't care what Giles said, magic was a tool to be utilized and if she used it to help her friends, then she didn't see anything wrong with that frame of mind.

It was also because of this difference that her fears had changed. Angelus had been terrorizing them for too long now and Willow was terrified that she was going to wake up one day and Xander, or Buffy, or Giles, or Ms. Calendar, or Oz were going to be dead and _she_ could have prevented it. This had been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back and she dove headfirst into her magical abilities. After hours upon hours of research she had finally, _finally_ , found something that not even Giles would be able to complain about.

The spell was relatively new compared to some of the other spells that she had found, it had only been in circulation for about three hundred years or so and many of the practicing magical thought it was a dud, but it had the ability to call forth the heroes from days long past. Ever since she had found the spell she had been fantasizing about who she would draw from beyond the void (King Arthur or Hercules definitely sounded like they would be helpful) but had decided to refrain from finding a catalyst. For one, she had no idea how she would go about doing that without Giles' help, so that was out. Her other reason was that she still had fanciful notions sometimes and the idea of drawing the one hero that was uniquely suited to her and her alone pushed all the right buttons.

Therefore on a Wednesday night that had been fairly quiet and let the Scooby gang go off and do their own thing a little earlier than usual Willow began preparing her spell. She made sure the others who would be sure to try and stop her were busy with other things (Buffy was still patrolling despite her danger, Xander was doing Xander things, and Giles, ever the Watcher, was researching other venues to stop Angelus) before she went home to an empty house and began to gather the ingredients for the spell.

Unfortunately she didn't really have any silver on hand to help her in being able to construct the spell, but she _did_ have a can of silver spray paint and that would have to do (the spell was more intent based anyway). She went into her backyard and began to get to work drawing the sigil that she had seen in the spell book. Thankfully her backyard was mostly just dirt, so it would much easier to clean than if she had grass. She completed her design just as the moon was raising high in the night. She figured it was around 1 or 2 in the morning and the spell had said that this was the best time to try and summon her hero.

One more glance and a quick reference to her book and she knew that everything was as perfect as it was going to be. Willow stood a little straighter and took a deep breath as she hyper focused and centered herself to use her newly discovered power. One more deep breath and she began.

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg.  
The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate."

The silence became more intense as everything in the vicinity of her spell seemed to begin to wait with baited breath as she attempted her summoning. She felt a small twinge in the power of the words, but nothing to amazing yet. Suddenly she felt a stab of pain on her right hand, but she ignored it in favor of completing her spell

"Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).  
Repeat every five times.  
Simply, shatter once filled.  
――――I announce. "

There was a _much_ greater pull beginning to come forth with every line of her verse and the circle began to glow with an ethereal purple energy, throwing shadows all around her backyard. The magic was responding! She was going to succeed! She just needed to push forth and ignore the worrying edges of black beginning to appear in her vision. She would succeed! She _had to_! This was the only way she knew of to help her friends, so with a grit of teeth and stubbornness she didn't even know she had possessed; she continued the last line of the aria.

"Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword.  
In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.  
Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.  
You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!"

She felt the power of her magic condense within the glowing circle, and even though she suddenly felt as if every nerve that she had was on fire, the condensed power exploded outward making her stumble back onto her behind. Panting with the exertion that the spell had taken, she looked into the smoke that had filled her backyard and could make out a shape. As the smoke cleared she took in the hero that she had summoned back into the realm of the living.

Even though he was kneeling she could tell he was tall. He was clad in an assortment of red and black and had on combat boots that seemed to be steel capped and gloves that hugged his arms tightly. His physique was well corded with muscles and his outfit did nothing to hide that notion. His skin looked as though it had been kissed by the sun while his shock of white hair gently swayed in the breeze that had been created by her spell. Finally she noticed his steel gray eyes, almost as though they had been forged in steel.

With a rustle of cloth the man stood as he locked eyes with willow and she felt a thrill of… _something_ as the summoner and summonee locked eyes for the first time.

"You who have summoned me, I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Willow wished she was able to answer that question immediately. Unfortunately, the spell had taken its toll and the pain that she had been pushing to the back of her mind returned in full force. With a groan she passed out, but her smile never left her face.

* * *

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Fate/Stay Night**_ **.** _ **They belong to Joss Whedon and Type-Moon respectively. Please support the official release!**_


	2. I am the Bone of My Sword

Well that was a new reaction to being summoned. The being formerly known as Emiya Shirou, who was now EMIYA, had been summoned a multitude of times now. He had had quite the varied amount of reactions throughout all the realities that he had witness, but fainting at the mere sight of him was definitely new. Rin had definitely had varied reactions for every time he had dropped in, literally, but she had never passed out. Thankfully it seemed that his class was once more under Archer, so that was nothing new.

Well even though there hadn't really been any confirmation of the Master-Servant pact verbally, Archer could feel the Command Sigils inscribed on her hand. He supposed that would have to be a good enough. Decision made he moved toward the young girl that had summoned him. She seemed to be around the same age as Rin, but perhaps because of her sleep visage, she seemed _much_ more innocent than a usually practicing magus. He bent down and gently lifted the unconscious girl before walking toward what was obviously her house. As he began to search for the room that was probably matched to his master he took in her appearance.

She was young, that had been the first thing he had noticed, and she was wearing some sensible jeans and a gray shirt with red arms. Her hair was a flaming red and looked as though it came down slightly past her shoulders. She was also fairly small and looked much more vulnerable than Rin ever did, but that was again probably due to her age.

Archer finally found the room that was most likely his new Master's (judging by the variety of stuffed animals) and gently laid her down in her bed. He pulled the covers over the girl and glanced out the window. Judging by the positioning of the moon it was a little past 2 in the morning. Sighing, Archer straightened and astralized. He was getting a worrying amount of nothing from the Grail, so he would have to at least scout out where he was.

Twenty minutes later and Archer had come to the conclusion that he was definitely _not_ in Fuyuki City. He was in a town called Sunnydale, located in California. Of course nothing about his summoning could ever be cut in dry. This time he was on the other side of the world and he didn't sense any kind of connection to the Grail. Although that had happened earlier, it was much more worrying than he wanted to let it be.

It was also frustrating in the fact that there were no real amazingly tall buildings that he could stand on and be able to survey the entire city in one fell swoop like he was used to doing. Archer had taken to sweeping throughout the town on foot, but it was taking longer than he liked. However, it seemed he had finally found the jackpot. As he had been passing through a cemetery, he heard sounds of a scuffle and had arrived to a scene of five figures furiously scrapping with one another. The closer he got, he realized that it was really a one on four fight and that there were three imposing men trying their damndest to get a good hit onto a petite blonde girl that was swirling around in a frenzy of movement.

A hit from the girl sent one of the men flying backwards and caused Archer's eyebrow to quirk in appreciation. Apparently the girl had quite a bit of oomph in her strength to be able to do that. Archer took a testing smell of the five and was disturbed when his prana sense came back as decaying flesh. That was worrying in the fact that the only time he ever really smelled that sort of scent was when he was hunting ghouls of vampires.

He watched on as the girl twirled a small piece of wood into her hand and thrust the makeshift weapon into her nearest attacker's heart. Archer was then treated to the surreal sight of the man breaking down into dust and he nearly burst out laughing.

Vampires. She was fighting _vampires_. And she had just killed one with a _wooden stake_. Archer wasn't sure what kind of surreal reality he had been summoned into, but this little slip of a girl was fighting what was generally considered the laughing stock of the magus world in that they were what vampires were _supposed_ to be like. Well, he wasn't going to let the girl keep on fighting, although she had preternatural strength and agility, he could tell that she was getting tired. He could also tell that some of her moves weren't nearly as crisp as they should be, so although she had strength, her finesse left much to be desired.

Well he supposed now was as good a time as any to introduce himself. Astralizing into existence, Archer quickly traced six Black Keys and held them between his knuckles. With a casual flick all three went soaring and the three other vampires that had survived until this point were suddenly shocked as they became locked into place as the Keys hit their shadows.

Archer had to give it to the girl, she didn't was anytime and in a fairly fluid move she kicked her fallen stake into another of the vampires and then grabbed it midair before taken down the last two. In the sudden silence of the night all that was heard was the heavy breathing from the small blonde girl. She was looking curiously at the Black Keys, but then she caught sight of Archer and immediately tensed into a stance.

Archer took a moment to examine the girl more fully and take in her appearance. She was fairly short and if he had to place her age he would say that she was around the age of his newly christened Master. Apparently they started them young in this place. She was blonde haired and brown eyed and she was wearing what looked like a more fashionable set of clothes rather than a sensible one. The jeans looked a bit scuffed from the fight and Archer was sure that her jacket and shirt offered little protection other than to keep out the slight chill and was she wearing boots with _heels_?

Archer shook his head and the girl tensed even more, something that he knew was the worst thing to do before getting into a fight with something that was bigger and badder than you from experience. And for all her supernatural abilities he _knew_ he was the most dangerous thing in the graveyard at the moment.

"Well Mr. Reddy, thanks for the assist, but what kinda demon are you? And why are you here?"

Archer decided to let his amusement show on his face at both her mode of address for him and her valley girl accent. He supposed that his cocky demeanor was something that quite irked the girl, judging by the flash of her eyes, but he couldn't help it. Her stance was full of holes and he knew they were unintentional, not at all like his own style. She was an amateur at fighting things tougher than her, even those vampires seemed to fall pretty easily against her. However, before either of them could continue their Mexican standoff, a slow clapping filled the graveyard.

Archer glanced to the right and watched as a man emerged from the shadows. He was dressed in quite a bit of black and was obviously a vampire, judging by his smell. He had dark hair and darker eyes and was staring at the girl with a disturbing intensity. He was also hlding a sword that Archer instantly categorized in his Marble. It was nothing special, but the man wielding it was a master with a blade in hand.

"Well done Buffy, I gotta say, your new friend is pretty interesting."

Judging by the way that the newly named Buffy tensed at the man's voice, it was obvious that the two knew each other, but apparently not in a good way.

"Angel."

The word was whispered and the venom behind it didn't really surprise Archer, he was sure the two knew each other and that they were at each other's throats more often than not.

"I really wish you'd get used to Angelus, the Angel you knew is long gone by now."

Buffy's eyes hardened at the vampire's comment. Well if that wasn't a story, Archer didn't know what was.

"As much as I'm glad that you've seemed to fixate on my fairly pretty companion, I think I'm going to have to interject."

It was the first time he had spoken in his entire encounter with Buffy and she was now eyeing him just as warily as she was Angelus. Smart girl.

A low chuckle was the only answer that Archer received from Angelus. Apparently the vampire wasn't tanking Archer very seriously yet despite seeing that he could immobilize vampires with his Black Keys.

"Well, I won't say you don't have some nice cajones, but please stay out of this. Mommy and daddy are having a discussion."

Archer's eyebrows rose at the patronizing tone that the vampire had towards him. That just wouldn't do, he'd have to put this vampire in its place. With a movement faster than he was sure Buffy could follow, he traced six Black Keys and hurled them at Angelus. While it was definitely too fast for the girl, the vampire was able to realize what was happening and in a graceful movement dodged out of danger. However, it had the intended effect and Angelus was now warily eyeing Archer as he reevaluated his threat level.

"I'm not really one to be ignored, let's see if you can't be more challenging than your peacocking makes you out to be."

His piece said Archer then traced his tried and true blades. Kanshou and Byakuya glinted in the moonlight and the other two obviously recognized that they were no ordinary blades by the way they were eyeing them warily. They knew that the blades were magnificent, but there was no spark of recognition in either of their eyes. Archer could definitely work with that.

The vampire still only held scorn in his eyes, but the fact that Archer showed not even an inkling of fear in the face of the obviously dangerous creature was making him pause.

"I don't know how much blades are going to help you. After all I _am_ a vampire."

Archer just smirked at the vampires bragging. Even though he had dodged the Black Keys, Archer was sure that he wasn't quite up to Heroic Spirit standards. Archer was still the most dangerous thing within this graveyard.

"I guess I'll just have to disabuse you of that notion then."

With that Archer blurred into action. He crossed the spaced between himself and Angelus in an instant and although the vampire showed surprise, he was able to parry the few testing blows that Archer sent his way. A flurry of blows later and Archer was beginning to reassess the threat level of the vampire. Although Archer was steadily increasing his strength, Angelus was matching him blow for blow with ingrained skill.

The vampire was obviously old, and he was definitely very, _very_ , good with that blade, despite it being a nameless hunk of metal. He also noticed the steadily incredulous expression growing on the vampire's face. Apparently he hadn't encountered anyone who had ever really been his match during his time as a vampire and if the expression of awe on Buffy's face was anything to go by, neither had she. A well placed kick and he and Angelus separated from one another. Neither of them were really breathing hard, although that was probably not a good indication seeing as the vampire didn't need to breathe.

The set determination of the jaw of the vampire told Archer that this battle was far from over, but Archer merely tossed his trademark smirk at the monster. He wasn't afraid.

* * *

Buffy Summers was having one of the most surreal nights of her admittedly short life. It had all begun simple enough, a standard patrol in a graveyard, a throw down with some fledgling vampires that wanted to claim they had killed the Slayer, but everything from there had definitely been spiraling out of her control. The first of her surprises came in the guy in red and black cutting in and freezing every vampire around her with some sort of blade.

It was true that she had been grateful as they had been starting to really make her tire, but the fact that she had disposed of the vampires so easily afterwards made her more wary of the man who had appeared out of nowhere. Then everything had gotten way more dangerous faster than she could really comprehend. Apparently Angelus had been watching her from the shadows, and after a bit of conversation (why did the bad guys always want to take with her?) the man from before had intervened once again. After keeping Angelus' attention on himself, the guy had then conjured a midnight black and shining white sword and had proceeded to engage with the centuries old vampire in bladed combat. And if she read the mood right, he was _winning_.

Now although Buffy was the Slayer, she knew that for all the fact that she had taken on the Master and won, she was still fairly new to the game. She knew that taking on someone as old as Angelus in a straight up fight was the equivalent to suicide for her, but someone had dropped in from nowhere and had decided to derail her thought process on the matter.

As the two had been upping the engagement, Angelus had been slowly losing his superior smirk. Now the vampire was frowning in concentration as once more the two clashed blades, moving so fast that the night was illuminated by sparks every time one clashed with the other. Buffy was afraid that if they kept the pace they were going they might accidentally start a fire, with the amount of sparks that were being created. Truth be told, Buffy felt a little useless standing near the battle, tense and ready for everything, but only holding Mr. Pointy. Although the stake was good for the fledglings she fought, she was sure that she wouldn't be able to maneuver into the battle taking place in front of her without either getting in Mr. Reddy's way, or getting something important sliced off.

"Who the hell are you!?"

The snarled comment made Buffy once more glance toward Angelus. His entire countenance had changed during the exchange of blows he had made with Mr. Reddy. He was almost tense, in the way that a feral tiger that had been backed into a corner was tense. Angelus was coiled to spring into action at moment's notice and was also prepared to defend for his life. For the first time since Buffy had encountered the soulless Angel she saw an expression that filled her with hope. Fear.

"Now that's an interesting conundrum if I've ever had one. I suppose that with everything going on and the way you fight, you may call me… Archer."

Buffy felt her eyebrows rise at that claim and she saw that Angelus' was doing the same. Even though she hated having any kind of empathy for the monstrous psychopath, she supposed it was a relatively good reaction.

"Never heard of you."

The low chuckle at Angelus' statement made the hairs on the back of Buffy's neck stand on end. Whoever or whatever Archer was, he was definitely dangerous.

"All the better for me."

Archer's reply was confusing, and then he did something that almost made her drop Mr. Pointy in shock. Archer flung his two blades to the sides so that they went careening off into the night. However something was at play as he made another two appear and immediately flung those, and performed the act one more time.

Angelus immediately went on the defensive, whatever Archer had done; it was obviously something to catch his opponents off guard. Archer's voice echoed throughout the graveyard as he once more grasped a pair of the swords.

"Spirit and technique, flawless and firm  
Our strength rips the mountains  
Our swords split the water  
Our names reach the imperial villa  
The two of us cannot hold the heavens together."

Suddenly Angelus breathed out slowly and then there was an explosion of light and noise. Buffy was somewhat amazed. Apparently Archer had some serious firepower under his belt.

"Jesus, what the hell _are_ you!?"

Archer frowned as the smoke cleared and Angelus was shown. Although he hadn't escaped the attack unscathed, one of his coat and shirt sleeves had been sheared off, and there were nasty burns all along the exposed flesh. Obviously Angel's question had been unexpected. Apparently the vampire had countered one of Mr. Reddy's trumps.

"That's some terrifying blade work you've got there. Not that it'll do you much good now."

Buffy glanced once more toward Angelus and noted that his blade seemed to be a mesh of melted metal, something that only looked vaguely like the resplendent blade that he had brought to the beginning of the fight. The vampire snarled in fury at Archer's goading and hurled the blade toward the man, who merely side stepped the desperate attack.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but for now…"

Angelus snapped and suddenly Buffy became aware that they had slowly been circled by quite a few vampires. She stopped counting after fifteen, but she was sure there was around double that amount. A thrill of fear ran up her spine at those numbers. She could definitely put up a good fight, but she _knew_ she wasn't prepared for this many at once.

"… I'll let these guys entertain you."

Angelus then disappeared into the night, letting the shadows swallow him. Buffy tensed as the vampires began to close in menacingly on her and Mr. Reddy.

"Buffy was it?"

Buffy started at her name and glanced at Archer as he appeared next to her back to back, his hands once more filled with the black blades that he had had in the beginning of their encounter. Slowly she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"I suppose you haven't fought these kinds of odds yet."

Honestly the scary thing about that statement was the surety in which the man thought she would eventually be fighting at least thirty vamps at once. However, she sucked it up and slowly shook her head negatively. She was met with a grim smirk as the man raised his blades.

"Then just take care of as many as you can, I'll do the heavy lifting."

With that said, the man whirled and let loose the six blades he had on him. As soon as that happened he was already in motion and beheaded the nearest vamp with his blade. Buffy decided that she needed to help (she was the Slayer damn it!) and launched herself into the fray.

Twenty minutes later, Buffy was leaning on a gravestone panting trying to stop the stitch in her side from getting any worse. She was also fairly positive that she had gotten a concussion in the process of the scramble that she and Archer had taken place in. She had killed around ten of the vamps, but Mr. Reddy had been a devastating force. The combination of the back blades he held between his fingers that somehow immobilized the vampires and his own deadly skills with a blade marked only death for the vampires that got in his way.

It wasn't until the last few vamps were left that Buffy got a look into how truly terrifying the man was. She was content to let the last few go, find them another day, but as soon as they turned, the rest of the vampires were locked in place by the black blades. Archer had then decapitated all the remaining vampires and now Buffy was desperately trying to catch her breath in case she needed to fend off Mr. Reddy.

"I suppose this wasn't the best introduction, but fighting monsters tends to make people a bit friendlier with one another."

Buffy couldn't really respond to that. Partly because she agreed and partly because she still hadn't caught her breath. She also noticed that Mr. Reddy wasn't even breathing hard, as if he hadn't just recently been a one man killing machine of vampires. This coupled with his ability to go toe to toe with Angelus made her incredibly wary of the man, despite his help in stopping the threat tonight.

"I think it's time to retreat for now, I saw you take a hit to the side, get that checked out with someone you trust. Are you okay to get to someone?"

Although she was a little beat up, she wasn't going to show any kind of weakness in front of this man. She would take her licks just as she always had and complain to Giles as soon as she got back to the library.

"I'll be fine."

Her terse reply made Mr. Reddy pause, but he just shook his head and chuckled in what she was sure was a depreciative way.

"Well, good luck, Buffy."

Buffy winced at the man's casual namedrop, she had somewhat forgotten that Angelus had called her by name. Well, if she wanted to make a good impression she supposed she would have to take control. Just because the guy was able to take on a horde of vampires didn't mean she needed to be scared. After all, just as Angelus had shown, she might have to slay him as well. She _needed_ to show no fear in the face of all the danger that was erupting around her. She really longed for the days when she was just a normal Valley Girl who's only priorities were cheerleading and if she would be popular.

"The name's Buffy Summers, nice to meet you."

Mr. Reddy seemed to decided to take amusement at her introduction.

"I guess it's nice to have a last name. As I said before, you can call me Archer. Be safe, Ms. Summers."

As soon as Archer (who she was sure she was going to keep on calling Mr. Reddy) said that, he began to dissolve into particles.

"Until we meet again."

Buffy nodded warily as the man disappeared completely, but she decided that even if the man eventually became a problem, she needed to express some sort of gratitude. Therefore, as quietly as she could, she whispered into the now silent night.

"Thank you."

Taking one more look over of the graveyard, she nodded her head and then angled her way towards the library. Her ribs were really hurting.

* * *

Rupert Giles, who was beginning to prefer being called Giles, had been busy trying to figure out some way to check their newest nemesis, Angelus. The vampire had been the Scourge of Europe when he had no soul and Giles refused to be caught unawares by any sort of ploy that the vampire might use. Of course because he was operating under the delusion that everything would fall into place, he was completely caught off guard when his current charge burst into the room.

With a slight jump that showed his nervousness, he glanced up at his Slayer to see that she had quite the stormy expression as she stalked into the library.

"Giles! We might have a bit of a problem!"

Well that certainly did nothing to quell the twisting in the Watcher's gut. Whenever Buffy had taken that tone, nothing good had ever followed.

"What seems to be the problem this time, Buffy?"

His charge jumped a bit when he spoke relatively close t her and he frowned in thought. It seemed as though he would have to be working more on her awareness than he had originally thought. He had been right next to the Slayer and if she had been using her excellent senses to their height she would never be surprised by any human, even if they were a Watcher. Thankfully it seemed as though she was able to shake of her startle fairly quickly.

"Has the Watcher's Council done something funky lately because of Angelus?"

Well that question wasn't doing that gut feeling any service. Sighing, Giles took off his glasses and began to wipe them. He knew that it was one of his tells, but he just couldn't help doing the action whenever he was feeling nervous. It had been that way ever since he was a young man. Slowly he once more examined his Slayer and he knew that the simple act had confirmed her fears, but it was always a good idea to let her know.

"The last I had heard they had decided to leave the problem to us. However, by the tone of your voice, I'd say that something happened tonight."

Buffy winced as she crossed her arms and glanced away. The fact that she couldn't meet her Watcher's eyes meant that she definitely had something unpleasant to report.

"Angelus was there tonight."

Just like that, Giles felt every muscle in his body tense. The deranged vampire was insane and he had taken an unhealthy fixation to Buffy. He was incredibly dangerous and his deranged tactics could be terrifying. He had no idea how they would be able to defeat this particular "Big Bad" as the kids had taken to calling them, but he knew that they needed to. He also knew that Buffy wasn't nearly prepared to face Angelus, especially out of the blue on her own. However as he kept on observing her, he noticed that aside from a slight wince as she sat down and a quick grab towards her ribs, his Slayer seemed no worse for wear than she had been when she went out on patrol.

"What happened?"

Apparently he was still able to instill authority into his voice because after twenty minutes of talking Giles had gotten the entire story. A man in red calling himself Archer, Buffy had been ambushed, and she had finally seen some of the terrifying skills that Angelus had at his disposal. However, if he was being honest, the most intriguing detail were the black blades that Archer had used to immobilize vampires by stabbing their shadow. Something like that would be incredibly useful in their fight against the darkness.

He once more was cleaning his glasses, but this time it was more in thought than in fear. Although the man had been fairly strong, it seemed that for the time being he was working with them and not against them, so he was the lesser of two evils for the time being.

"I must say, I thought tonight was going to be quieter than this."

He noticed his Slayer wince and he held up a hand to stop her from trying to make an excuse.

"That being said, _because_ none of us were expecting this tonight, I must commend you, Buffy. You were able to adapt out in the field marvelously and because you trusted your instincts you were able to make it back here intact."

Giles noticed her wince and once more she grabbed for her ribs and decided to amend his statement.

"Well, mostly intact."

Buffy let a slight smile slip through at her Watcher's humor, but he knew that both Archer and Angelus had shaken her tonight. She had encountered something that looked like they could counter her Slayer abilities with pure skill and the fact that both had either strength to match or might actually be stronger definitely did not help. Her emotional compromise when dealing with Angelus certainly did her no favors. Sighing Giles leaned back as he examined the ceiling of his library. He was getting far too old for constantly dealing with the craziness that was involved with Slayers and their ilk. One glance at Buffy and her hopeful expression as she looked to him for answers made it all worth it. Unfortunately he didn't have all the answers and he never would.

"I suppose for now we should focus on Angelus. He's the one who is a direct threat, while Archer seems content to aid us and throw a wrench into Angelus' plans. That can only be a good thing for us."

Buffy nodded and Giles noticed that her pained expression was beginning to clear. He supposed that her ribs had only been bruised and Slayer healing must have kicked into overtime to get her fighting fit, especially with such large threats lurking out there in the dark.

"Go home, Buffy. Get a few hours of sleep and then I'll see you in the morning tomorrow."

Buffy grinned up at him and Giles was pained by how young she truly looked. Whatever other things the Slayer line was, they were still all basically children and they had to deal with forces beyond most humans' comprehension in addition to the pits and falls of puberty. He hoped the young woman would be able to get some sleep and be prepared to fight once more.

"I think I will, even though it's already tomorrow morning."

Giles just shook his head at his Slayer's amusement before said something softly, almost under her breath.

"Thanks Giles."

Her thanks was much more scared than Giles had gotten used to seeing how Buffy reacted, but he supposed he would have to take the good with any of the bad. Hopefully by this time tomorrow they would have at least some answers.

* * *

Willow slowly came to consciousness as sunlight streamed in through her window. She had been exhausted the night before after her spell, but she was pretty sure that it had worked. She vaguely remembered a shape within the smoke of the explosion and she was sure that she had noticed the man when the smoke had cleared. She almost snuggled back into her covers, she had had a late night and she was sure that the magic that she used had been intense. In fact she still felt a little sorer than she usually did in the morning, but nothing in particular hurt. Right now it felt more like she had had a good workout last night and had forgotten to stretch to release the tension in her muscles afterwards.

However, she knew that she needed to get to school and there was a delectable smell wafting up into her room. She recognized the bitter aroma of coffee, something that helped her function on the last nights, but it seemed something else was cooking as well if the sizzles and pops were anything to go by.

The with a crash of realization she realized that her parents were out of town for the next two weeks and she should be all alone at the moment. With a startled yelp that probably alerted her intruder six ways to Sunday, she untangled herself from her sheets and promptly fell on her face as she attempted to get out of bed. Groaning on slight pain and rubbing her nose as she got to her feet, she crept out of her room and made her way towards the kitchen.

Willow was quite proud of herself, she was able to be fairly quiet as she made her way into the kitchen, but stopped as she saw the back profile of the person who had invaded her home. However, as soon as she saw the muscles she felt a blush as it all came flooding back. This was definitely the hero she had summoned, and while she definitely appreciated the yummy muscles, she had to repeat over and over that she had Oz and she was definitely happy with him.

She then noticed that there was a plate already set on the table for her and that the man in her kitchen had tilted his head to the side as if listening for something. Taking a deep breath, Willow walked into her kitchen and cleared her throat.

Slowly, the man turned around, she noticed that the man had donned some sort of white apron to cook, and the gray eyes like steel were once more boring into hers. Willow resisted the urge to squeak and run as fast as she could out of there. She was pretty sure that the man wouldn't do anything to hurt her, but his stare was one of the most intense she had ever seen.

"Hi there, strange man in my kitchen! Hopefully this'll make sense to you, but do you remember being summoned by me? I'm pretty sure we saw each other yesterday, but I can sometimes miss things like that and I'm always trying my best to make sure I make no misunderstandings, especially with those people who have tweaked some voodoo. Xander and Oz have been telling me I need to slow down on the magic, but I obviously succeeded if you are sitting here! Unless I didn't summon you and now you think I'm completely bonkers."

Willow had said all this as fast as she could and when she finally fell silent, she realized that the man was staring at her in what could only be amusement. She felt a blush slowly creep across her face as she looked away in embarrassment.

"I suppose we can continue from last night then."

At the sound of the deep voice Willow glanced at the man in her kitchen and saw that he at least looked as though he were sympathetic to her plight. Then he surprised her by getting down on one knee and bowing, as though she were some kind of king and he were a knight.

"You who have summoned me, I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Silence descended in the kitchen at the question and all Willow could hear was the sound of what she was pretty sure was bacon popping merrily away in the frying pan. However, she knew there was only one question to the query and as confidently as she could, she gave it.

"Yes."

* * *

 **Man, I sure have been prolific in my writing this January. To be honest this idea has been puttering around my head for awhile, and I kept on wanting to get it started, but real life and the fact that I hadn't updated** _ **Lucid Berserker**_ **in forever kept me from doing so. However, now it's happened and it's out there and I quite enjoyed it. I took quite a bit to figure out how I wanted to cross these two series over, and I think how I worked it work best. I briefly considered Halloween fic, but that has been done to death. It was also driven by the fact that there was only one story in this crossover section and I wanted to try something in a little bit of a different vein. Now I'm a bit rusty on my Buffy verse, but I think that what I've made works.**

 **I decided to bring in Archer (EMIYA) to help combat the forces of darkness, simply because I quite enjoy him as a character and with all the world ending crap that happens in Buffy I'd say a Counter Guardian was kind of inevitable. His abilities are quite a bit higher than normal vamps and he can tear into those, but like Angelus, who I think has the skills to at least hold off a Servant, can match him when he's not utilizing his Marble.**

 **Welp I'm gonna keep this one short, I probably won't get the same lightning in a bottle I got with** _ **Lucid**_ _ **Berserker**_ **but I think I have a solid fic being built here. Although I've started new fics, keep an eye out on my old ones because while I have this writing fire lit underneath me I'm gonna try and update those as well, so if you're a fan of** _ **Gallant Familiar**_ **or** _ **Death God Ashikabi**_ **, keep an eye out!**

 **Questions? Comments? Concerns? PM me! I've got no betas for any of my stories at the moment so any typos or grammatical errors are because of that. If you're feeling generous leave a review, like all my stories I enjoy writing them more than reviews, but those reviews do motivate me on occasion. Now then onto the disclaimer, because if you're new, that's just how I roll, at the bottom!**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Fate/Stay Night**_ **.** _ **They belong to Joss Whedon and Type-Moon respectively. Please support the official release!**_


	3. Steel is My Body and Fire is My Blood

Willow was feeling quite a bit better than she had been as she walked the halls of Sunnydale High. The school had the usual hustle and bustle of students passing by each other as everyone tried to make their first class and Willow navigated to he own class like an old pro. After confirming that she _was_ in fact Archer's Master, she had dug into the breakfast that he had made (it was delicious, definitely better than anything she could have made) and then rushed to school.

As she made her way through the day, she paid half attention to her classes and the other half was trying to see who exactly she had summoned through random questions. She had read about the mental link that all Masters and Servants shared, but it was an entirely different feeling to actually _experience_ it.

 _So you're probably not Heracles, I'm pretty sure King Arthur would look a bit different than you. Oh! Could you be Gilgamesh!?_

Willow had the distinct feeling that her Servant had winced at her last guess, which was a bit surreal of a feeling in and of itself, but he did answer each of her guesses amicably enough.

 _No, no, and I'd rather throw myself off a cliff rather than be the last one._

Although he hadn't said that he was any of those different heroes, there was a definite implication that he at least had met Gilgamesh.

 _So are you Enkidu then?_

She got the distinct impression that her Servant had raised an eyebrow at that guess, and she _really_ needed to get used to being able to feel the impressions that her Servant made.

 _Whatever let you come to that conclusion?_

Willow gave her own mental shrug and decided to at least attempt to answer.

 _Well it definitely sounded like you had at least encountered Gilgamesh, but it also sounded like you definitely were exasperated with him, the only other person I know off the top of my head from that legend was his partner Enkidu._

Willow felt Archer give a small chuckle at that, but she immediately knew that her shot in the dark was off the mark.

 _A nice guess, and well thought out, but no._

Willow sighed at the confirmation of being wrong, but figured it had at least been worth a shot.

"Ehem. Ms. Rosenberg? Am I boring you?"

Willow let out a small eep as she realized that her sigh had been very audible and that her math teacher had caught her somewhat not really paying attention. She felt the back of her neck heat up as she flushed in embarrassment at being the center of attention.

"Sorry, it won't happen again."

She got the distinct impression that Archer seemed to be feeling a vague sense of nostalgia as Willow went about the day. She was able to easily keep up with the material, but she decided to wait until later on to be able to question him more thoroughly, preferably when she wouldn't have a random reaction to something that he said.

With that thought in mind she went most of the rest of the school day firmly ignoring her Servant, Xander seemed a bit wigged out by the way she was behaving, and she hadn't really seen Buffy yet today, but as soon as school came to an end she began to make her way toward the library. Hopefully Giles would be able to at least help her figure out which Heroic Spirit she had summoned.

When she walked into the library, she was treated to the sight of Buffy once again sparring with a Giles who seemed to have taken every kind of sports protection he could. Willow winced as a particularly vicious back kick sent Giles skidding along the ground and thought that perhaps there was no such thing as overkill when it came to training a Vampire Slayer.

As Giles got to his feet wincing slightly, he praised Buffy's hit.

"Good, very good. You're definitely getting more used to the power that being a Slayer gives you inherently, and your form is beginning to improve."

However, even though Giles had praised her, Willow noticed that Buffy was frowning and staring at her closed fist in contemplation.

"I still don't think it's enough, Giles. That guy I saw last night had some crazy moves on him and it felt like he was actually probably holding back a lot. I'm pretty sure the only reason Angelus is still among the undead is because the guy was just bored and wanted to see what was going on in Sunnydale."

Willow felt her Servant's attention sharpen towards Buffy at her comment.

 _Well, well, well. Seems she's more observant than I gave her credit for._

Willow frowned at that, she wasn't sure she liked the implications she had heard from her Servant's statement.

 _Archer? Is there anything you'd like to share with the class?_

She then gave a beatific smile to her Servant. She was definitely not expecting the huff of laughter at her question or expression.

 _I can't believe that summoned into a completely different reality and I find another one._

Willow's innocent smile fell from her face at that.

 _Another what?_

However, before he could answer, Giles had noticed her presence.

"Miss Rosenberg, nice to see you! Is there anything in particular I can help you with?"

Willow shook her head slightly to clear it of the questions that were now somewhat plaguing her. She was sure she would be able to get her answers one way or another.

"Uh, yeah actually. Now I know you told me to go easy on the magic…"

Apparently her leading statement was not easing Giles into her idea at all if the thunderous expression slowly taking over his face was anything to go by, so she decided to get it all put there in one go, kind of like ripping off a band aid.

"…but I decided to perform a ritual last night that I found that I thought would really be helpful to us, and it worked! I was able to summon a Heroic Spirit from the Throne of Heroes and he's been bound to me as a Servant and I think he might've gone out last night and he maybe sorta got into a fight."

Yup, the thunderous expression was definitely fixed on Giles' face now.

"And he _might've_ , possibly, maybe, met with Buffy last night, if what I overheard was correct."

Buffy looked slightly stunned at her admission, but Giles' expression had actually turned stony. The fact that he was fiddling around with wiping his glasses did nothing to help calm her nerves.

"Are you telling me…"

Willow winced at the quiet tone in which Giles began. It was almost a whisper and seemed infinitely scarier than if he had decided to start yelling obsessively at her.

"…that not only did you perform powerful magic by yourself. But that you somehow summoned something that was powerful enough to take on Angelus!"

Willow shrank into herself at that. It seemed that Giles was going to continue his tirade, but Archer suddenly materialized in the room between her and the librarian.

"I think that's enough for the time being, don't you?"

Giles visibly recoiled from Archer's presence and Buffy let out a strangled cry as she dropped into a loose fighting stance. However, before anything could happen, the doors to the library burst open and Xander and Kendra walked in, only to stop as they witnessed the standoff between Archer and the others.

Thankfully it seemed as though nothing was able to faze Xander as he merely raised an eyebrow and pointed over toward Archer.

"Uh, did we get a new teacher or something, cuz that guy is definitely not a student."

As everyone stared at the Hawaiian shirt clad teen he merely blinked back at the stares.

"So what'd me and Kendra miss?"

* * *

Archer could only feel amusement as the teenagers in front of him began to argue about whether or not it was feasible to utilize him in their fight against that vampire from last night. While he felt the vampire had some nice moves, the monster was still not nearly as terrifying as some of the beings he had encountered in the many incarnations of his Counter Guardian self. He was definitely not on the level of a Dead Apostle Ancestor, but it seemed that he had been around for a while, even by this world's standards.

Archer supposed that Angelus had been a good litmus, but he needed to really see where the girl who was supposed to slay vampires stacked up compared to the vampires she fought.

"I think I need to give a little test."

With only a few words he was able to silence the rabble that had been filling the library. He supposed that the boy's, Xander, reaction was probably the best.

"Holy crap it can talk!"

Archer's Master was quick to come to his defense.

"Xander! That's no way to treat a person!"

Xander sheepishly shrugged in confusion, it seemed as though the boy was a bit of an airhead, but if he didn't know any better, Archer could swear there was at least some sort of calculating gleam in the teenager's eyes.

"Sorry, Wills. It just sounded like he was completely bound to you, so I'm surprised the guy could speak up for himself."

Willow rolled her eyes at that.

"I've been trying to tell you, it's more like summoning a powerful partner than a slave who could obey my every whim."

Archer decided that he might as well have some fun if they were going to doubt him anyway.

"That is true."

Once more Archer was the center of attention with just a couple words. He made sure that his smirk was especially condescending as he looked around the room.

"And as the Archer class I have rather high Independent Action, so that means that if I decided to kill Willow and go around Sunnydale to feed off the souls of the innocent to stay on this plane of existence, than she can't really stop me."

And just like that, the tension within the library skyrocketed and the diminutive blonde and the girl that had entered with Xander both fell into a loose fighting stance. Well, he supposed that this was the outcome he had been looking for anyway, might as well see what he could make of it.

With a steadying breath he blurred into motion and appeared next to the blonde, he believed she was Buffy. A sweep of the legs threw her off balance and then the flat of his palm smashed into her solar plexus. He made sure not to be too destructive, but he also made sure to put a little bit of strength into the hit. She let out a silent scream as the wind was taken from her and then Archer pushed.

Buffy went flying and crashing into a bookshelf with a variety of books tumbling to the floor. Archer then leaned back a few inches and watched as the other girl's fist sailed harmlessly by his nose. She seemed to realize that she had left herself overextended if the widening of her eyes was anything to go by and Archer ruthlessly kicked her into the same bookshelf as Buffy, who had just been getting to her feet. Unfortunately for the blonde Vampire Slayer, she had her sister Slayer slam into her and made them both crash into the same bookshelf.

As the two Slayer's were groaning on the floor, the librarian seemed to decide that using a blade was the way to go. The man had a decent stance, but he was moving _far_ too slow to be able to fight someone with the preternatural speed that Archer had. He might be able to take on a few of the vampires that he had seen last night, but someone like Angelus would utterly wipe the floor with him. After casually dodging a couple of desperate sword swings, Archer stepped into the swing and got inside the librarian's guard. A quick move and the man was disarmed and looking a bit baffled as to how he had been. Another sweep attack and the man had been put on the floor, also groaning in pain.

Willow looked completely shocked by this turn of events and although it looked as though Xander was about to try and attack, it seemed his Master found it more prudent to stop her friend.

"Archer! Why are you fighting my friends!?"

Archer glanced around at the groaning people on the ground, but it seemed the two Slayers were able to get to their feet. Archer just continued to give his smirk towards the two.

"Well, I wanted to see how well this rag tag team could fight. I think they're going to have a problem if they go up against Angelus as they are."

The two girls bristled at that and the librarian carefully got to his feet.

"Well buster, we'll show you just how bad of an idea it is to mess with two Slayers at once!"

Apparently Buffy had some spunk in her as she nodded at her fellow Slayer and the two launched at him. Archer made sure to keep his level of fighting just a shade higher than the two girls and he had to admit, for young girls who hadn't trained to be magi they were fairly impressive. However, both of their movements were slightly sloppy and it was easy to take advantage of some of the holes that appeared in their defenses.

The three sprang apart, but it was obvious that the two girls had come out on the losing side of the exchange. They were both wincing and both were begin to breathe rather hard. However, it appeared that their recovery rate was fairly impressive as they both caught their breath in a matter of seconds.

"Buffy! Kendra!"

Archer glanced over to librarian and saw that he had pulled two swords from somewhere. He then tossed the blades in the direction of the two Slayers and they each caught one. Both girls glanced at each other and smirked before raising their weapons towards him. Archer merely cocked an eyebrow and traced Kanshou and Byakuya as the two swords that the girls were using automatically copied into his Reality Marble. Apparently Buffy just remembered that he could do that if the look of annoyance was anything to go by.

"Oh yeah, I forgot he could do that."

The other Slayer, Kendra, glanced at her ally in annoyance. Well then, not all was well in the Slayer school of fighting. After a brief pause to size each other up, the three were once more moving in a blur.

The ring of steel on steel echoed throughout the library as Archer checked any and all attempts at getting through his guard. Although he had the style that he preferred whenever fighting someone nearer to his level or higher, an iron defense was enough for the two girls. He had to admit, their sword play wasn't half bad as well, but much like their marital arts there was vast room for improvement. A flash of his blades and both girls had suddenly been disarmed and his blades were rested against their necks.

"That's enough!"

Archer glanced back and saw that Willow had lifted her hand and that the Command Spells were glowing with a mystic purple. Archer sighed as he backed away and straightened out of his battle stance.

"What an honest Master I have, there's no need to use one of the Command Spells, this was merely a test."

Willow kept her face in stern disapproval as she gestured to the Command Spells and then pointed to her face.

"This is my resolve face mister; you better buck up and cut it out."

Archer sighed as he moved to his Master's side.

"I suppose that'll have to suffice for now."

Willow nodded as she turned to her friends, but gulped audibly when she noticed that everyone but Xander was now glaring at her. Giles was once more cleaning his glasses as he observed both Archer and Willow. He seemed as though he had no choice but to accept that Willow had summoned a being that was capable of fighting two Vampire Slayers effortlessly. The two girls didn't seem happy with the arrangement either. Archer supposed that the girls must not have had to fight very many beings that were _much_ more powerful than them yet. He supposed his test was more important than he thought.

With a sigh the man placed his glasses back on his nose and pinched it in an exasperated way.

"Is there any way to reverse what you have done?"

Archer decided to answer for his Master, just to have a bit more fun. He had to take what amusement he could while he was still able.

"Well, I suppose one of you could cut of her arm and steal her Command Spells that would make me your Servant instead of hers."

From the way that everyone blanched at his statement, it seemed that even Willow hadn't known that little tidbit, none of them were willing to do so. Archer merely shook his head at his Master's ignorance, honestly it was like someone had taken both his and Rin's personality and stuffed them into a teenage introvert. Archer paused at that. On second thought, he really hoped that she at least had more Rin than himself, he was an idiot at that age.

"Yes, well, I think that I speak for all of us when I say that none of us want that to happen to Willow. Although magic can have terrible consequences, I don't think causing needless pain is something that I want to invoke on a naïve high school student."

Apparently the librarian at least had some concept of the dangerous nature of the forces that his Master was playing with, but if the stubborn set of the jaw that she had was anything to go by, the message wasn't really getting through. He supposed he should at least help a little in making her understand what she had done.

"I must agree, Master, the librarian is right. It was terribly dangerous to attempt to summon a Servant without considering who you wanted and without being ready for the realm you would be entering once you did."

The man seemed slightly shocked that Archer was agreeing with him, but apparently the others were just as shocked. Archer huffed in annoyance as he strode over to one of the bookshelves and crossed his arms as he casually leaned against it.

"Don't look so surprised, I had already said that I was testing you. At the moment I'd say the two girls and the librarian can handle any kind of regular vampire that seems to be breeding in this hell hole. However, the vampire that me and the blonde one fought last night is another matter altogether. He would wipe the floor with any one of you three. Not sure about my Master and the other kid though."

Apparently Xander took offense to being called a kid as he bristled at the perceived insult, but Willow was able to put a soothing hand on his arm. She turned back towards her Servant as soon as she knew her friend wasn't going to try and pick a fight with the Heroic Spirit that she had summoned. Archer also recognized the flash of stubbornness in her eyes as she leveled her stare on him.

"What do you mean dangerous, I did everything right according to the ritual that I had read."

Archer barely suppressed a wince at that. The girl had summoned him with only vague knowledge of how to perform the summoning and she had still been able to figure out how to achieve it. Add that to the fact that at the moment he couldn't feel any kind of connection to the Grail and perhaps the girl had somehow accidentally recreated the Third Magic. He was sure that the Einzbern family would be thrilled.

"There is a saying that any practitioner of thaumaturgy must follow, at least any of the ones who haven't gone completely off the deep end. 'To be a magus is to walk with death.' Just know that if something had gone wrong in the ritual to summon me, you would have died."

Said so bluntly, Archer was able to see his Master wince at the slight reprimand, but he wasn't done yet.

"I need you to understand, the path you are beginning to walk down is fraught with peril of death. Any spell can backfire on you, and something as simple as running out of energy can result in your permanent demise. Hell, you could have summoned someone who would have killed you on the spot, if you weren't fast enough to get a Command out, it certainly would have been possible."

His Master was paling with every word and her friend beside her was looking at her with concern. Good. It seemed that the lesson was at least sticking better than he could have hoped. He glanced over toward the librarian and the two Slayers, while one Slayer looked concerned, the other one didn't seem to care, but there was a slight predatory gleam in her eye as she looked at Archer. A challenge seeker then. She might have trouble later down the line if that were the case. However, it seemed that curiosity was beginning to edge into the librarian as he continued listening as Archer continued.

"I'd be the last person to push you away from this path, but just know…"

Archer paused as he gave a small smile to his Master, whom visibly flinched at Archer's expression.

"…it will leave you broken."

His piece said, Archer astralized, much to the astonishment of Kendra and Xander who had not seen him appear from thin air. As soon as he was invisible to all but his Master, the doors to the library opened once more and a woman, a girl, and a boy walked in, only to notice the tense atmosphere.

"What'd we miss?"

* * *

Xander had always been something of a slacker. He had eked out the best of his meager existence (in his humble opinion) but he knew that he lacked any real motivation to do anything. The only thing her really cared about was to not end up like his parents. They were barely able to take care of themselves, much less a teenage son, but he would just have to cope as best as he could. However, if there was one quality that Xander was proud of, it was his fierce loyalty to his friends.

When Jesse had died, Xander had been crushed, but he had made a vow, at least to himself, that he would do everything in his power to not let any of his friend be in that kind of danger ever again. The colonel from Halloween had begun to help him with that and he had already been able to save Buffy, but learning that his _best_ friend, one who had been with him since kindergarten, had been in mortal peril and told no one, that stung a bit.

He knew that Wills had the best intentions and he knew that whatever she had done, she had summoned something a heck of a lot more powerful than what she was probably expecting, but he also knew that she had a tendency to be impulsive at times, especially when she saw other people in trouble and she thought she might be able to help. As Oz, Miss Calendar, and Cordelia all walked into the room, Xander had never been so glad that someone else decided to try and explain.

Once the explanations of the freaky dude in red, who apparently liked to be called Archer, were over, the rest of the Scoobies began to think of ways to utilize him against Angelus.

"I'm telling you, Giles, the guy is fast. Like ridiculously fast. You were able to see it yourself! He was able to fight both me and Kendra like it was nothing and still be totally cool once we had weapons. Not to mention he was able to take on Angelus no problem last night, I vote that we use him. Sure Willow should have asked us first, but now that he's here, I don't see why we don't go for it."

Giles sighed as he once more cleaned his glasses. Xander was pretty sure he might erase the glass from existence if he kept on doing that. Then again, they had been going back and forth for about fifteen minutes on this topic now. It was mostly Giles and Buffy butting heads, seeing as Willow was definitely for, Xander didn't care one way or another, the three who came later had no idea what was really going on even if they had been filled in, and Kendra seemed to fall in the Xander camp of not caring.

"Be that as it may, Buffy, we're still not sure what his intentions are. True Willow was the one who summoned him and I'm sure she has nothing but honorable intentions, but I just can't trust such ritualistic magic. I'm rather surprised that her summoned 'hero' agreed with me, so all that tells me is that he has a better head than any of you, with perhaps the exception of Miss Calendar, of magic in general. However, he's powerful, a new player, and I have no idea what his goals are."

It was here that Willow opened her mouth to speak, but Giles silenced her with a glare.

"I know you had the purest intentions when you performed the summoning, but there was a very real possibility of all of the outcomes Archer mentioned."

Willow winced at that and looked thoroughly chastised. Xander supposed that being chewed out by a Heroic Spirit would do that, even to his perpetually bubbly best friend. It was here that Miss Calendar decided to speak up.

"What I don't understand is why he seems so amicable to us. I know she said she summoned a hero, but I figured you might have meant a demon that was just calling itself a hero."

Willow shook her head this time, and Xander sighed, apparently not even the tag team of Giles and Miss Calendar was enough to get her from trying to explain the intricacies of magic to practitioners who combined were almost four times her age.

"I summoned him from the Throne of Heroes, and was able to get the Archer class. Think of him more as an imprint of a hero rather than the hero themselves. I'm rather glad I was able to get a knight class from one of the seven possible Servants."

At that last part, the two adults in the room froze. Although the teenagers had been following along, mostly, it seemed that whatever Willow had just said was the cause for the greatest alarm.

"Willow, dear."

Xander looked wide eyed at willow as Miss Calendar adopted a tone that sounded both soothing and threatening at the same time. He watched in slight morbid fascination as his friend paled from the attention she was getting from the teacher.

"Is it possible that by summoning one of these Servants, you've kick started the other six to be summoned?"

Willow looked as though a truck had run her over. Apparently she hadn't even begun to consider the implications of being able to summon one of seven Servants, not that Xander would have been able to make that connection, but Willow was always supposed to be the smarter of the two of them.

"I…I…"

Miss Calendar sighed as she leaned back and Giles looked positively alarmed.

"I was afraid that that was going to be your answer. I can't say I'm not somewhat disappointed, I had given you a few pointers so that you would think things through a little more, but apparently it was a bit foolish of myself to expect maturity from someone in the throes of adolescence."

Xander winced at that and the way Willow's face crumbled made him want to at least try and defend his friend.

"I know she didn't quite think it through, but it at least worked and at the very least we have the guy as a check against any of the other Servants that might pop up right?"

Willow sent him a grateful look as the two adults paused to consider his reasoning. Xander also noticed that the other occupants in the room seemed a bit surprised at his insight. He sighed internally at that. Although he didn't have any super power (and wasn't popular in Cordelia's case) he could definitely think strategically.

In the end it was Giles who answered Xander's question.

"I suppose that is the best answer that we can come up with for the time being. However, I think that researching this ritual will give us more of an insight into what we are facing with Archer's presence."

Willow nodded her agreement as she stood.

"Right then! I'll go and grab all the research I did before I tried the spell and you can tell me whether I did anything wrong."

Giles frowned as he looked out the library door windows and saw that the sun was setting. The ghostly orange that was filtering in through the opaque glass made the room seem almost on fire.

"It's almost sundown, perhaps Buffy should accompany you so that you may get the research that you need."

Willow opened her mouth to protest, but Giles stopped her with a raised hand.

"I know you believe that this Archer has your best interest in mind, but I'd feel better if at least one of the Slayers went with you. When you are on your way back it will definitely be dark."

Willow glanced over at Buffy, who just shrugged and nodded. Willow nodded her own acceptance and the two made their way out of the library. Xander shook his head as Giles looked around and began pulling down random books while he muttered something about rituals. It was just as the library had gone completely dark when the door opened once again.

Xander looked over at the door because he hadn't expected Buffy or Willow to get back quite that fast, but he froze when the person at the door locked eyes with him. A pale face, broody eyes, a penchant for black attire, and a sharp looking sword held loosely at his side were the sight that greeted him. A malicious smile grew on the vampire's face.

"Hello Scooby Gang, old man Angelus from down the way has come to bust up the Mystery Machine."

* * *

 **Well, looks like I'm still able to write. It's a good feeling. After the long hiatus that I had, being able to update is nice, even if it's one of my new stories. I actually wanted to write a chapter for Gallant Familiar, but I kept on writing like 1,000 words and hating what I wrote, so looks like I got some writer's block there at the moment. Ah well, this at least loosened me up a bit, hopefully I'll be able to update some other stuff soon. Anywho, onto my gushing about the response this has gotten!**

 **I gotta admit, this was a better response than I thought I'd get from this little fic. I knew that I liked the premise, but apparently others did as well! Always a nice feeling when that happens. As of writing this chapter I got over 100 favs and follows, 35 reviews and it seems that most enjoyed the story. I'm actually kind of surprised how many people read this and hadn't watched Buffy, apparently I'm getting old, but I'm pretty sure the original Fate Stay Novels came out right around Buffy's end? Maybe I'm remembering wrong. However, a lot of people expressed interest in going and watching Buffy, so that's cool. I think nowadays the dialogue and effects are a little dated, but damn if those characters don't hold up well and that's what I feel like Joss Whedon does best.**

 **So not quite lightning in a bottle like Lucid Berserker, but a little more well received than my new DBZ fic, so win-win? Well, I don't write for the popularity anyway, reviews and stuff help, but I write because I get an unrelenting urge to do so, especially in things that I feel are underrepresented on this site. Either way, I'm enjoying writing this so far, and some of the reviewers who had been familiar with both verses liked to point out that Archer would probably stomp on Angelus and while I actually somewhat believe that to be true (I probably beefed Angelus a bit, but I said that he could only hold a Servant off rather than outright beat them, pretty sure) I know for damn sure there are things in Buffyverse that can be a threat to Archer. Glory is probably one, another will most likely be Adam, but that would be telling I suppose. Not to mention if we get to season six stuff and Willow goes nuts, with Archer under her command. I guess that's getting a little ahead of myself, but we'll see how it all goes. Fun stuff so far, now onto my spiel!**

 **Questions? Comments? Concerns? PM me! Still no betas for any of my stories at the moment so any typos or grammatical errors are because of that. If you're feeling generous leave a review, like all my stories I enjoy writing them more than reviews, as I said before, but those reviews do motivate me on occasion. Now then onto the disclaimer!**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Fate/Stay Night**_ **.** _ **They belong to Joss Whedon and Type-Moon respectively. Please support the official release!**_


	4. I Have Created Over a Thousand Blades

Willow had been having a bad feeling the entire time that they had been scrounging around in her bedroom to acquire the ritual books that she had referenced. She had quickly been learning to trust her gut feeling, it was what allowed her to summon Archer in the first place, and right now it was screaming at her to quickly get back to the library, pronto. If the way that her blonde friend increasingly became more active in her worrying was anything to go by, then she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"Have you found everything yet?"

Willow let out a relieved sigh as she finally found the last of her research and gave a small nod of affirmative to the blonde haired Slayer.

 _It seems as though you might have given me the order to stay behind to look after your friends if you were so worried about them._

Willow almost slapped her hand against her forehead in exasperated realization, only unable to do so due to the amount of notes and books she was carrying. Archer had made an excellent point, but she had gotten too used to the man following after her in his ghostly form for the entire day. She supposed it was too late to rectify her mistake as well.

 _Darn it, I wish you had thought to tell me that before we had spent the last hour trying to find all the things that I had used. I think we might need to have a talk about informing me of relevant details before they become relevant._

She had the distinct impression that the red clad man was merely smirking at her, but she decided to ignore him to focus on not tripping over her own two feet. She had done that before and it was never a fun experience for anyone involved.

"I'm getting the serious wiggins, tonight. It feels like something big is about to happen."

Willow turned her attention to the blonde haired Slayer at that statement. If Willow had learned to be mindful of her own gut instincts, she had learned to trust Buffy's even more. If the Slayer thought something bad was about to go down, chances were highly likely that something bad was going to occurred.

"We weren't even gone for an entire hour, Buff. I'm sure everyone's just fine with where we left them. No reason to get spooked or anything."

Her words rang false even to her own ears, but she knew that the other teen needed to hear them, lest she drive herself to the brink with worry. Which would probably not be a good thing. Sighing she readjusted her arms to make the stacks of notes and books lighter, but she realized that her platitudes were having no effect on the blonde Slayer.

"I always need to listen to my gut, Wills. It's what's kept me alive this long and right now it sending me a serious case of the heebie jeebies."

Well, it looked like Willow was right in her platitudes having no effect; she kind of wished that it had though.

 _The girl might be onto something, the sun's been down for awhile now. If what I've learned about this town is any indication then we should be ambushed right about…_

Just as Archer trailed off, three menacing men dressed in darker clothes and wearing leather jackets that looked like they might be from the fifties strolled out into the street.

… _now._

Sometimes Willow really wished she hadn't gotten as snarky a Servant as she had. It would have made dealing with these types of situations all the more easier.

"Well, well, well. It seems we have a couple of birds going out for an evening stroll. Where ya headed sweet thangs?"

Willow rolled her eyes at the comment, but it looked as though Buffy seemed a bit relieved at being accosted by a few vampires. Willow was sure that the slayer intended to use them to let off a bit of stress at having to deal with all the other crazy things that she had had to deal with today.

"Wow. What kinda cheesy villain flick did you three idiots step out of? Are you gonna threaten my little dog too?"

Apparently snarking back to the vampires was not what they had been expecting, but it appeared that doing so was enough to at least anger the leader. Unfortunately for these vampires, they were just thick headed enough not to catch onto the fact that neither girl was showing any sort of fear towards them.

"Apparently you don't understand how this works, girly. We threaten you, then we _eat_ you."

Buffy merely examined her nails as the vampire went on, before she slowly curled it into a fist.

"I think I'm gonna need a manicure after tonight. I can just feel it."

With that, she sucker punched the lead vampire, who had been looking on in disbelief. The monster went flying backwards and his two friends had blank stares of horror over what had just occurred.

"Oh, also, just FYI. I'm the Slayer so…"

Buffy gave a small wave at the two dumbfounded lackeys as the leader groaned from the floor.

"…howdy."

With that the blonde Slayer performed an admirable roundhouse kick to the head of one goon and knocked him into the other. With a flick of her wrist a wooden stake appeared in her hands and she flung it towards the downed leader, striking him directly in the chest.

His look of befuddlement was the last thing he had before turning back into dust. The other two glanced at their leader (or what was left of him) as they groggily got to their feet. For a beat there was no movement as the two vampires looked towards the Vampire Slayer. Then they glanced at one another briefly before turning tail and beginning to try and escape.

 _Should I intervene?_

Willow just smiled in amusement at her Servant's question. She was sure that the man was only offering as a courtesy.

 _No, let Buff have her fun. This will be a good way to help her de-stress._

There was slight hum in her mind of acknowledgement as the blonde Slayer bounded over to the other two vampires and flipped one on its back before dusting it with a downward stab of her stake.

 _To each their own I suppose._

Finally Buffy flung the stake once more and it smashed into the other fleeing vampires back, directly where the heart would be. As the final goon became dust, Buffy dusted her hands off in satisfaction.

"Well, I guess that was one way to get me to be a little less worried. Kinda lame that they sucked so much though."

Willow merely smiled at the Slayer's statement. She was sure that Archer would have helped easily enough if something more difficult had occurred. However, now that the fighting was over, Buffy once more had a worried glint in her eye.

"The problem is that why would these chuckleheads be hanging around trying to ambush _me_? I thought my rep had gotten around the community pretty well by now."

She got her answer in the form of a British drawl.

"Well, luv, I'd say it's to be some sort of distraction."

Willow snapped her attention down the street and actually felt her first twinge of fear for the night. Standing before them, casually smoking a cigarette was a vampire that had actually managed to kill Slayers.

 _Master?_

Archer's soothing presence calmed her mind somewhat. Her Servant had fought Angelus to a standstill, surely he would be able to take on the blonde haired leather jacketed vamp that had just made himself known.

It also looked as if the vampire's appearance had made Buffy go into more of a rage than she usually did if the snarl was anything to go by.

"Spike. What the hell are you doing here?"

Although Buffy's tone was casual, it looked as though her eyes were anything but. They were glinting with barely restrained violence in the rising moonlight. It did nothing to deter either of the two girls when the blonde vampire raised his hands in a soothing gesture.

"I'm not here for a fight, Slayer. You and me, we got the same enemy at the moment. And how does the saying go? The enemy of my enemy is-"

Thankfully Buffy cut off the blond vampire's words. Willow was getting a bit sick at the thought of working with him.

"-still my enemy. That's not how this works, Spike."

The blond vampire looked a bit taken aback at Buffy's abrupt rejection, but Willow whole heartedly agreed with the idea. After all the last time they had been working with a vampire it had only brought about the return of Angelus, and that hadn't been fun for anyone so far.

"Sheesh, luv. Thought you might appreciate a little bit of help. Especially since Angelus is planning to really wreck your shit up tonight."

Willow's stomach dropped out at that. She had thought that here friends were safe. If what Spike said was true then everyone was in danger right now. With a glance to the back of her hand, she came to a decision.

Spike looked startled as a man with tanned skin and white hair appeared behind the burgeoning witch.

"Archer! By my command, get us back to the library as quickly as possible and defend everyone who is there!"

There was a ripping noise before the very fabric of reality was ripped through as the people on the street were suddenly transported into the library that they had been in only about an hour earlier. Willow thought that she might have felt nauseas at the abrupt change and she noticed that both Buffy and Spike had grabbed their heads in agony as if whatever it was that Willow had done had tried to liquefy their brains and leak from their ears.

The last thing that she saw was one of her Command Spells fade from existence once the action had been executed. Afterwards she welcomed the sweet embrace of unconsciousness as her notes and books clattered to the floor.

* * *

Xander was fairly certain that he was going into shock. He was also fairly certain that he would be dying fairly soon. Already, Angelus had decimated the team that had been left behind in the library. While Kendra had put up a valiant fight and had been able to hold him off in the beginning, especially with the others harassing the undead monster, in the end the old vampire had just been too much for them to handle.

No plan survived first contact with the enemy and although Xander was able to direct the others so that they were putting up one hell of a fight, he knew that it just wouldn't be enough to get the edge that they needed to win. One mistake was all it took for things to go up in flames.

Kendra had tried to perform a disarming move (literally) on the centuries old vampire and he had retaliated by performing one of his own. Unfortunately this one landed seamlessly and suddenly the other Slayer was down an arm and screaming in pain.

The vampire then took out the legs from underneath her and ferociously thrust his sword into her, pinning the girl to the ground. Xander would never forget the sight of the light leaving the girls eyes. He had flashbacks to what had happened to Jesse so long ago (even though he and the other Slayer were admittedly less close with one another, they were still comrades fighting against all the things that went bump in the night.) and he had felt himself snap.

He had let out a guttural bellow, one that had apparently caught the vampire off guard and in his fury he had managed to land the only clean hit that they had gotten on the monster. He had landed a devastating headbutt that had him seeing stars and apparently at the very least dazed the pale monster for a moment. Unfortunately for him, the vampire was someone who could easily shake off what he had suffered from Xander's hit and the next thing Xander knew was that he was flying through the room only to crash into a bookshelf, one that had survived the fight between the two Slayers and that Archer prick.

The vampire had his attention firmly on Xander after the stunt he had pulled, but thankfully for Xander Ms. Calendar had been waiting in the wings to try and utilize some sort of spell. It was fortunate for Xander, but it was rather the opposite for the teacher as Angelus was able to dodge the attack.

The vampire's rage seemed to increase sevenfold at the botched spell and his vamp face had replaced his regular one. Giles had tried valiantly to land an attack, but it wasn't enough and Angelus had taken him out with a brutal blow to the head. Xander was fairly certain he would have been screaming in fury as he watched one of the only adults he looked up to crumble to the ground as though he were a puppet with his strings cut off, but he was pretty sure that Angelus' hit had possibly punctured a lung.

With two of their more prominent frontline fighters down for the count and Xander barely keeping himself conscious (if he was going to die, he would do it by seeing it coming, not having his throat slit while he was passed out from pain) Angelus had free reign over the library once more.

"Now, now, Jenny. That wasn't a very nice spell you were trying to hit me with. I daresay it might have even given me back that pesky thing you all call a soul. I think I'll enlighten you on just how…"

Here the centuries old monster bared his fangs and Xander was fairly certain he could feel the vampire's intent coming from all the way over here. The only good thing at the moment was that Oz and Cordelia were able to make it out before the vampire had begun to go on his rampage.

"… _freeing_ a person feels without a soul."

With that said the vampire had begun to kill the woman known as Jenny Calendar. He hadn't done it quick and easy. He had drawn it out and eventually the poor women had screamed herself hoarse, but it still wasn't enough for the monster that had once been a vampire with a soul, but it seemed as though there was a small mercy and the woman finally succumbed to her wounds.

"A pity, I had planned to turn her, and then dust her."

Xander put on the bravest face he knew as he looked towards the monster that now wore his once ally's skin. He knew that he was the only one really left conscious for the vampire to enjoy and he was pretty sure that the he had some sort of demented plan for Giles that none of them could even begin to fathom.

However, just as the vampire stood over Xander menacingly and the teen had begun to make peace with what would no doubt end in his demise, there was an explosion within the library and it felt as if the very fabric of reality was screaming out in protest due to the new presences.

Xander felt himself tear up as he saw that Buffy had returned, along with Wills and her new Servant (and for some strange reason Spike, but Xander could give a rat's ass about that pompous idiot at the moment) and they were looking as though they were ready to throw down.

With a small sigh of relief Xander let himself slide down the bookcase that he was leaning against. The last thing he saw was Angelus turning to face the newcomers before his entire world turned black.

* * *

Archer ignored the cloying scent of blood that permeated the library that he had been only around an hour ago. He was slightly concerned for his summoner, but he knew that in order to pull off what she had the Command Spell had been partially fueled by her own magic, hopefully she would be fine.

He knew that their arrival would cause more chaos to the library (and he was slightly amazed that they had all bent the fabric of space and time to get to this location, perhaps this world was more mired in the mystic than his own was), but it looked as though the place was already in shambles from what had happened here. He only needed to look towards the other end of the room to find the being responsible for the bloody mess that was left behind.

Archer glanced at the carnage and realized that at least two of them were dead and the other two were most likely in critical condition. It was as he was assessing the room that he realized that the other two were once more getting their bearings. If the way the blond vampire paled even further was anything to go by, he very much did _not_ want to be anywhere in the vicinity at the moment.

"Angel… what have you done?"

Archer almost winced at the low small whimper that had come out of the blonde girl that he had met just the night before. He had not expected her to take this nightmare to heart, but perhaps the two's history was more entrenched than he had first thought.

In any case, while the small murmur that the blonde had muttered might be enough for human ears not to hear, he knew for a fact that the monster standing across from him had no trouble hearing the girl's anguish. The cruel smile that slowly slid across the vampire's face was all the confirmation that he needed.

"Welcome back, Buffy. Do you like what I've done with the place?"

The vampire gave a casual look around the room as if admiring his handiwork.

"It was a bit dreary in here so I decided to spruce it up with the color red. I do so love that color."

The blonde teen let out an incoherent scream of rage and sprung towards the vampire that had decorated the room with others' blood. The monster merely laughed as he danced around her punches and kicks before he eventually lashed out and was able to score a hit on the Slayer, sending her flying _through_ a bookshelf this time.

Archer winced at that, it was never fun to be punted through solid objects; he had had enough realities of facing Heracles to attest to that.

"Oh dear, if you keep acting like that, I'm going to think you don't enjoy my gifts."

Archer let loose a sigh before he traced some Black Keys and flung them into the retreating blond vampire's shadow. The monster let loose a yelp of surprise as he found that he could no longer move even if he tried.

"What the hell did ya do to me, ya ponce?"

Archer merely smirked at the blond vampire, making sure to put as much contempt into it as possible.

"Stay there for a minute, I might have some questions after this."

The vampire looked as though he was trying to struggle even more at that, but Archer was content to know that he wouldn't be able to get free. Angelus had yet to figure out that the person who had bested him was once more within the room, he was too busy trying to bring misery to the Slayer that was groggily getting to her feet.

"I think this might be our last dance, Buffy. Make sure you entertain me."

With that said the vampire lunged towards the still incoherent Slayer, but before he could strike with his sword, Archer had appeared and caught the blow with ease. He somewhat enjoyed the widening of the vampire's eyes as he recognized who had put a stop to his rampage and although Archer felt the vampire trying his damnedest to disconnect from the Knight of the Bow, Archer knew would not let him. With a smirk towards the monster, Archer deftly turned his blade and deflected the blow entirely before lashing out with a front kick that sent the vampire crashing through a book case.

While the vampire was occupied with recovering, Archer decided to turn his attention to the blonde Slayer.

"Gather your wounded and get out of here."

The Slayer looked on in shock at Archer's statement, but the Servant didn't have time to be coddling to the teen. She was in this fighting these monsters, she should have known the risks coming into it.

"I'll be the one to take care of this cocky vampire. You might say that things that are older and stronger than the average human are my specialty."

The blonde obviously disagreed with his tactics if the way her expression was pinching was anything to go by, but that was just too damn bad for her. Archer knew that he was the best option to fight the narcissistic vampire and he would stand by that decision.

"This isn't up for debate, Blondie. I'm stronger than you, that _thing_ is stronger than you. Let the adults have a conversation so that we can end this bloodshed."

He ignored the indignant squawk at her nickname and once more focused his attention on the vampire that was slowly rising out of the rubble of bookshelves.

The vampire looked suitably furious at having been punted through furniture and Archer made sure that his smirk was obvious to see to the monster.

"Like hell this isn't up for debate! I'm the Vampire Slayer! Slaying vampires is kinda my thing!"

Archer merely sent a prayer to whatever deity that governed this world that it would spare him from crazy ass teenage girls. Her outburst had once more drawn the attention of Angelus. Archer was pretty sure that he had never strangled a teenage blonde girl before, but he was willing to do so if that's what it took to get the girl to shut up.

With a sigh he flung Kanshou at the vampire and he parried the blade away from him, snarling as he bounded over to where Archer was standing. Even though Archer was down a blade they once more exchanged a flurry of blows, some of which blew papers all over the library,

Out of the corner of his eye he could see that the Slayer was watching their fight with her mouth agape in astonishment. She had probably never seen a fight taking place at the speeds that he and Angelus were pushing. This time the vampire wasn't playing around and was actively trying to get a hit in.

Archer wouldn't let him, but it was interesting to see what the vampire's style was. With another flourish, he summoned another Kanshou and was able to force the vampire back with a swipe of the blade that appeared in his hand. Immediately after wards he sent Black Keys after the vampire. Unfortunately, Angelus was much wilier than Spike and was able to dodge that assault.

"Tch."

Archer was more annoyed than anything that the damn vampire was able to dodge, but he was sure that he could make up for it. With one last glance towards the blonde teen he decided he needed to be a bit more forceful in what he was requiring of her.

"Just help your friends, Buffy. They need you more at the moment and I can take care of this scum easily enough. If you don't trust me, at least trust that Willow had all your best interests at heart. I won't be taken down so easily and you can provide the defense so that he doesn't kill anyone else that is in this library."

Apparently he had finally gotten through to the stubborn blonde because she reluctantly seemed to agree with what he was saying. With that in mind, Archer decided to go on the offensive to give the girl time to get away. The only thing that was hindering Archer at the moment was the fact that there were innocents still spread throughout the library and as such he really wasn't able to go all out. That was fine with him though, in a match of skill he knew that he would never lose to a lowly vampire no matter how tough said vampire was supposed to be.

"I'm gonna enjoy ripping you a new whole, jackass."

Archer merely let his ever present smirk do the talking as he once more parried a vicious slash from the monster. While Archer was able to keep up and could end this with a stronger technique, the vampire was doing fairly admirably to keep pace with him. Once all the others were out of the way the kiddie gloves were coming off though.

He found some amusement in seeing the other vampire trying to get out of the bind that he was in, but knew that it was a futile attempt with the way Archer had pinned him down. Archer was a bit fortunate to learn some very colorful swear words from the British vampire.

Once he was sure that Buffy had stated gathering the wounded, Archer decided that he really wasn't having the best time in the library, it was just too enclosed. With this thought in mind, the Servant lashed out with a kick to Angelus' mid section and once more sent him flying, but this time it was through a wall and out into the courtyard of the school.

Archer couched down and launched himself after the vampire a second afterwards. While the monster was looking slightly dazed from once more being sent through a solid structure, he was able to parry the first attack that Archer lashed out with Kanshou, but completely missed the second slash that came with Bakuya.

Archer felt a deep sense of satisfaction as the blade bit into the vampire's flesh and he let out a howl of pain and fury. However, Angelus was nothing if not tough and tried to go for a strike with his own sword. Archer merely danced back from the slash and took up a loose stance a respectable distance from the vampire.

Angelus was snarling as his vampiric face bled through, but Archer wasn't intimidated by the shifting of a man to a monster. The true evil that he had seen was more often than not quite good looking and their outer appearance didn't reflect the one within. He supposed that it was a bit of a novelty to actually be fighting a monster that was one in every sense of the word. He was also enjoying the hint of fear that the vampire now had in his expression.

Archer knew that the monster was skilled with the blade. He also knew that once you reached a certain level it was easy to tell when you were outclassed in the areas in swordsmanship. He was sure that the vampire hadn't had anyone to really challenge his title in quite a long time.

The vampire's off hand now hung uselessly at his side and Archer was quite glad of his hit. He had scored some major damage and he was sure that he would be able to finish the monster off if he kept pressing the advantage. He only wished that he was in a less populated area so that he could Trace something that would really be able to take out the vampire once and for all.

"I think I might be beginning to have a genuine vendetta against you."

Archer merely let his smirk grow at the vampire's comment. He was always happy to oblige when people thought they could out snark him.

"I'll sleep with one eye open. Not that you'll be surviving this."

Angelus narrowed his eyes at Archer's declaration, but stayed silent for a moment. He then glanced back towards the hole where he had been ejected from the library a considering look on his vampiric face.

"I think I know of something that might distract you a bit and allow me to get away clean."

With a devilish grin, the vampire sheathed his sword and brought his fingers to his mouth before he let out a piercing whistle that carried throughout the entire school. Archer was more annoyed than anything else seeing as his ears were more sensitive than most, but he was sure that what came next would be even more trouble. The damn vampire seemed to love stirring it up after all.

With one more look towards the hole, the vampire turned around and began bolting away with his preternatural speed. Archer swore up and down in his head. He had been sloppy and if the monster got away now he was going to be pissed.

With that thought in mind the Knight of the Bow traced his signature weapon. A sleek black bow that looked almost incomprehensible to the regular person appeared and with it an arrow. A breath later and the arrow was fired from his bow at speeds not obtainable by normal human standards.

Unfortunately for him, Angelus was a vampire who was more paranoid than he let on and as soon as he had heard the string being pulled taught, the vampire had sent his senses into overdrive. He was able to slightly lean to the side. The arrow still blew a hole through the vampire's shoulder, but it was non-fatal as opposed to the certain death that Archer had been aiming for.

"Tch."

Not to be deterred, the Servant of the Bow once more traced and arrow, but he suddenly had to lean out of the way of a vampire that had wildly thrown a punch at him.

The red clad man had heard movement all around him, but he had thought he would have a greater length of time before he would have to address the issue. With a small sigh he let go of the od comprising his bow and once more traced his favored twin swords, decapitating a vampire as he did so.

Archer glanced around and realized that he might have been a bit off in his calculations about how many vampires Angelus was able to gather as backup. While they posed no real threat to him, there were still people within the school. Coupled with the fact that it would take him a few minutes to take out the vampires that surrounded him, he supposed he would have to face the facts and acknowledge that the damn vampire had put him in check.

With a sigh that betrayed his annoyance at the current situation he found himself in, the Servant of the Bow got into a loose stance and began to get to work. Angelus had dealt a blow on the teens that he had seen today, but there were still people to fight against him and Archer was sure that once his Master awoke he would be sent to take out the vermin. He was looking forward to it.

* * *

 **Hello everyone, been a bit since I updated this.**

 **If you're paying attention to my other stories then you know this is a** _Big Update_ **of all of the stories I am considering active to promote my P a treon. Now I won't be blocking any sort of access on the fanfiction site to my stories or gating them, this is simply a way for me to push myself into updating faster and gaining revenue to launch an anime review site. I had had a review site before, but it is now defunct due to struggling funds. If you're feeling generous go on over to p a treon .com (slash) RedhathackerSin, just take out the spaces and make the slash a symbol. I've already posted two anime reviews there, one for patrons and one for the general public. I've also put a poll purely for patrons on which of the five active stories that I've just updated I should do once more before the month of June is out.**

 **I had a bit of a time wondering where I really wanted to take this story, I have an idea of where it will eventually end up, but it's always those elusive middle bits that make it tough to keep on keeping on. Anywho, Angelus' days are most likely numbered and the next chapter will be dealing with the fallout of this one. If you are into the Bufffyverse you know that this was a major blow to those characters and it should be interesting to see how Archer's you can't save everyone mentality clashes with the younger Scoobies.**

 **I just want to thank everyone who faved, followed, and reviewed. Even more than a year later I keep on getting the occasional review and this is in a not so popular fandom. I wouldn't be surprised if this story does not get the votes to be updated again during the month of June, but c'est la vie. I think that's enough of my little rant corner for now, let's get onto the good stuff.**

 **If you're feeling kind leave a fav, follow, or review! If you're feeling kinder check out the P a treon! This is still unbetad at the moment, but I'll be going back through all active works and editing them, so that's something to look forward to. Onto the disclaimer!**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Fate/Stay Night**_ **.** _ **They belong to Joss Whedon and Type-Moon respectively. Please support the official release!**_

 **P a treon .com (slash) RedhathackerSin**


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